The Unexpected
The Unexpected
Thomas McCarthy
Early April suddenly ablaze and unexpected pear blossom
As rampant as de Chardin's sudden forms of life, as
Delicate as the lacquer-work left over from a raid
Of winter that scattered so many things since autumn -
You could hardly fathom what April brought in on the breeze,
What organic matter-of-fact things, what an impolite cascade
Of broken crockery in pink and green. It’s like that election
Heard in the distance, beyond the fat privet hedge,
An election that has set the traffic lights on edge
And caused this collision of ideas. From our quiet section
I can hear anxieties rolling in. But are these not the same as last
Time? Is she not the same? And he, is he not like a gardener
Gone berserk, flat cap askew, trying to make regular
What swarms; life itself, that is, now swarming on the grass?